Things are all well and good with the team, but now something is up with Kazu. While the guys think that he got dumped by his girlfriend, it turns out that his grandmother is starting to lose memory of him, and thus he is losing the will to do cheerleading. That was the main motivation for wanting to do the same routine as his mother's. In the end, everybody throws their support to rally around him, and he's back, and those boys sure have made a lot of progress with their routine as they but on a brilliant performance outside the hospital.

It's time for the prelims, but Haru is feeling out of it as his sister has been in a slump. Haru made some pretty noticeable mistakes, but the Breakers managed to pass and barely made the finals. Domoto has some pretty harsh words about their cheerleading being more like a circus, and in response to that criticism, Sho has been wanting everybody to overdo it. Sho's time with the Sparks is explained as while Sho was a big reason why Sakura ended up in the hospital, Domoto is also at fault. So after taking Domoto's word to heart, Sho decides to pay Sakura a visit to apologize. That was all about Sho here as that accident drove him to do irrational things.

Valentine's Day is coming up, and so are the nationals. Saku and Haru are making a chocolate cake and while that's going on, Haru finally approaches her to talk about her recent slump in judo. As for Chihiro, who asked for the chocolate cake recipe from the place Haru is working at, it turns out that she's Ton's girlfriend. So over dinner, everybody talks about how far everybody has come, and on the next day, Haru is skipping practice to cheer on his sister in the judo tournament, and that got Haruko back on track, and to return the favor Haruko is watching the boys at the nationals. That was such a great episode there as the boys finally put their uncertainties behind them. One more episode left as the boys compete in the nationals.

Damn, Haru was destroyed by the revelation of Koji's girlfriend. Getting all excited, seeing her and then that happens... Poor guy. Sakuma giving Kazu chocolates was pretty cute.

I'm so glad Haru finally talked with his sister. His support really meant lot to her. This entire season, I was questing how Haru could cheer on others, when he can't cheer on his sister. Even more so when he cheered her on the tournament. The scene with those two and Kazu doing judo was a heartwarming ending.

It's the night before the Nationals, and it's time for reflections and to read what everybody else on the Breakers wrote in their notebooks as part of the ritual. The first page has a catchphrase, and then it's a diary. I just like the way everybody reacted to seeing what another person wrote in their notebooks, especially Takeru's. And then it's the day of the Nationals where they meet up with friends and rivals as they do their routines. And while the performance goes on, everything that was written in the notebooks comes to light.

That was quite a performance those boys put on there, one that's so full of inspiration. While the reflections and stuff are really nice, I felt that it took way longer than it should have. But nevertheless, the point was made that each of the boys understand what cheering is all about and those notebooks are great reminders of that.

Final Thoughts

This show ended up being more enjoyable than I was expecting it to be. While the story concept screams fujoshi bait, it's a well thought-out one with boys doing something normally associated with girls. The show does a decent job in building up chemistry between team members, as well as turning downtrodden characters into enthusiastic ones, which fits in quite well with what cheering is all about. The soundtrack is great, and the characters are a likable bunch that adds to the entertainment value of this show. That said, there were some pretty major problems with this show as it introduces a large cast, and it does so in a way where it is hard to keep track of everybody. There's that, and it pretty much ignores a good amount of them, and while this show can't get to everybody with just 12 episodes, I felt that several of them were just there to be part of the team and not much more than that. And the other big problem is the storywriting as there were stretches where unnecessary stuff happens that doesn't exactly add much to the story. In all, while it's far from being a top shelf product, it was definitely worth my time watching.

Enjoyed the ending a lot.
The coach did an excellent job in getting the team really connected , I love it.

I thought it did a great work on pulling it off of a story with all male characters without the typical stuff in all male anime becuase it is based on a real all male cheering squad ie the Shockers from Waseda University.

This show really felt different and it appears more of a drama .
Animation was not bad.

What a pleasant surprise. Honestly I thought this was going to be my least favorite sports anime this season, but it turned into my favorite. I also really the ending, where it doesn't matter if they win nationals its just a tale of bros being bros.

While this show did look like ass at times, it made up for it with solid character writing. It's thanks to it that I could continue enjoying each episodes even though I wasn't invested in the sport they were playing at all. This finale alone deserves props for giving each member of the team some development and closure without it feeling contrived.

I wouldn't say it's among the best sport anime, but it nonetheless was surprisingly endearing. Definitely worth watching.